VOSTOCHNY SPACEPORT /Amur Region/, February 29. /TASS/. Russia will completely cease receiving meteorological data from Western weather satellites by the end of 2024, Igor Shumakov, head of Russia’s Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring, told reporters.
"Up to a certain point, we had close cooperation with our Western colleagues, [specifically] with the EUMETSAT system, which provided us with a lot of operational information needed for our usual forecasting activities," he said after the launch of the Soyuz 2.1b rocket booster carrying the Meteor-M No. 2-4 weather satellite.
According to Shumakov, recently the flow of information from Western satellites has practically dried up, but "thanks to our colleagues from Roscosmos, the shortfall of information has been practically eliminated." "Looking a little further ahead, I think that by the middle or end of this year, taking into account plans to launch hydrometeorological satellites, we will be able to give up on EUMETSAT altogether," he added.·Shumakov emphasized that the Meteor-M No. 2-4 weather satellite is equipped with unique systems that will allow the satellite to see through clouds; monitor the water surface of seas and oceans, in particular the Northern Sea Route; participate in forecasting ice conditions; and perform environmental tasks.
The launch of the Meteor-M No. 2-4 weather satellite was the first conducted from the Vostochny Spaceport and the third from Russian space centers in 2024.